Levee breach a threat to homes

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A LEVEE in Sonoma County broke early Monday, flooding part of a highway and threatening a half-dozen homes and a winery, the California Highway Patrol said. Heavy weekend rains weakened the banks along Sonoma Creek, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a flash-flood warning.

A Sonoma County levee that failed in the New Year’s Day flood broke again Monday morning, threatening a half-dozen homes and a winery on surrounding farmland, according to weather and traffic authorities.

The levee, built on private property near the Sonoma Creek, broke just before 8 a.m. Monday, flooding the landowner’s vineyard and possibly threatening six homes and another vineyard about a half-mile south of the site, said California Highway Patrol Officer Gerald Rico.

The break occurred in a rural area about seven miles south of the city of Sonoma. About 100 acres of farmland were flooded.

Separately, rising water forced Highway 121 to close at

5 a.m. for about a mile, a stretch that usually floods at high tide during wet weather.

The waters had receded by late morning and the highway reopened at 10:20 a.m., according to the transportation department.

Heavy weekend rains weakened the banks along Sonoma Creek, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a flash flood warning after the levee failure.

Northern parts of the Bay Area received about 2 inches of rain Sunday, although scattered showers throughout the region Monday added another 0.5 inch in some spots.

Forecasters expect mostly clear skies from tonight until Thursday, when another band of cold, wet weather is expected to move ashore.

Computer models on Monday suggested the bulk of the rainfall will hold off until Friday, though the storm is expected to be unseasonably cold with unusually low snow levels for the middle of March.

Which means, perhaps, Mother Nature wants some payback for those nice sunny days the region enjoyed in February.

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